Research Interests:
Formation of the appropriate connections among nerve cells
Current Research:
Formation of the appropriate connections among nerve cells is essential for the correct and efficient functioning of the nervous system. It is through very specialized interactions between the different neural cell types that such connections are formed during development, maintained or modified in the adult, and reformed or even prevented after trauma.
Cell surface and extracellular matrix molecules that have been recognized to mediate such interactions are now being implicated in such diverse phenomena as neural induction, neural cell proliferation, neuronal migration, neurite outgrowth, synaptogenesis, signal transduction between neurons and glia, and finally, the capacity of neurons to regenerate or not. For instance, how does a neuron sense where to position its cell body, into which direction to send out its neurites, and when to engage in stable connections or to destabilize such connections under conditions requiring plasticity, such as learning and memory.